Rule Britannia
by Tris147
Summary: An AU about the British Empire and her subsequent future into space. Prequel to Intersolar Commonwealth. I own no right to Mass Effect or Europa Universalis. Just to keep the peace I hold no grudges against any Nations mentioned or not mentioned in this fic. May continue if requested, but I doubt it will be.
1. Chapter 1

**Rule Britannia**

**Chapter: 1:** The Rise of an Empire

In the 17th century Emperor Columbus Bryce the 1st, signed quite possibly the most important document in human history, the Declaration of Unification, which was the agreement between Britain and all her colonies that free trade, education, healthcare and resources would be shared equally among the citizens of the world. During the founding of the Empire, Britain had signed many alliance pacts with most of the countries around the world which eventually led to the inevitable annexation of the countries into Britain.

Although these countries became part of the Empire, the Emperor agreed that all annexed countries would have all the same customs and cultures they previously had but would however have to accept British laws, and the wealth and resources of that country would go to the betterment of all countries within the Empire. In addition, the countries existing armed forces would be integrated into the British armed forces.

Therefore, with many countries around the world seeing the benefits of being partnered to Britain, they decided to do the same. This was the founding of the colonies, which incorporated large portions of the world into a single region governed by a Regency Council which was made up by the rulers of all countries in the colony, meaning that each country had their say, but of course for order to maintained, a British ambassador would be present at each Regency Council session, to hear all the issues within that colony and tell it of Britain's views.

Of course before any of this modern-day Empire was formed there were the years before which consisted of many bloody and vicious wars that had divided Europe and Africa as European powers fought for control of the slave trade and valuable natural resources. With Britain and France engaged in a war that would last 100 years, hence the '100 years' war' Britain's newly formed intelligence division consisting of hundreds of men and women from all corners of Europe that had pledged allegiance to Britain, learned of France's intention for Africa and the other European countries. Britain went on a full offensive war to protect those who would otherwise be defenceless.

With the war coming to a close, with France's military in shambles and losing territory to Britain everyday, France signed over its remaining land and colonies to British control and submitted to all demands made. With Britain's only major rival out of the picture, Britain shut down the slave trade and began to open new lands for those who had been kept as property. Those who had been freed by Britain pledged to serve and repay Britain anyway they could, this was when the Empire started to take shape. As Africa started to build vigorously with the aid of their British allies, stabilized the country and became the first true colony of Britain.

Over the next two centuries Britain increased its European territory as it systematically conquered all the slaver nations and warlike states and instilled new governments that would swear fealty to Britain and would be from now on be considered British territory. With Europe under British control due to far too many unwanted wars. Britain decided to refrain from war unless absolutely necessary.

With the Americas being colonised and the same with Australia and the pacific islands, Britain now had large areas of land that where too much for one country to govern, so like Africa the Emperor signed away much his overseas territory to colonial councils. With these new colonies in place and squaring off against their fellows, the Emperor decided that to maintain the peace amongst the peoples of the world with the Declaration of Unification. It was sent to all colonial councils for review, within two years all colonies had agreed to the bill and signed it, effectively creating the British Commonwealth Alliance or BCA.

Now 100 years after the signing of the DoU I, Gregory Bryce, was born straight onto the international stage, from day one a lot was of expected from me. And that all began with upbringing. Being the heir to largest and most powerful Empire on the face of the Earth I was raised with the utmost care and attention and given the world's best education.

Therefore, that meant private schools, so for the after my third birthday I was sent to Blackheath Prep, and then after that I were sent to Winchester College, but due to my success at both schools I graduated at sixteen, and from there I joined the Royal Air force and worked my way through the ranks to reach the rank of fighter pilot, although with no wars or border conflicts to oversee the worlds military was slowly being disbanded but I didn't care for that, I just loved to fly.

At the turn of the new Millennium my father Emperor Columbus Bryce the 2nd, decreed that Britain was to start a new age of peace and discovery with our overseas colonies. This new venture was in part due to India, the Empires most influential and wealthy sub-colony, when their own Government had proposed that a space program would benefit the human race, so my father agreed and immediately started funding the new Commonwealth Alliance Space Program or CASP for short. Over the next decade CASP made great advances into science and technology by 2010 The Commonwealth space station was fully self-sufficient and was the size of a football pitch with a permanent crew of twenty.

It conducted research on everything from artificial gravity to cleaner energy generation. It was not until 2014 eight years after I had joined the Royal Air Force that my senior officer took me aside and told me that the CASP director had requested that I become the captain of the newly christened HMS Britannia on her maiden voyage to Mar, of course I accepted without hesitation.

Nevertheless with my responsibilities to the RAF I had to finish my term of service before I could act in any of the roles, however on my birthday my parents arrived unannounced, at the air force base where I was stationed. Of course I had to greet them with the senior officers of the base. After rushing to scrub up and dress in my Imperial dress uniform I went to greet them.

After the usual lengthy introduction I escorted them to one of my CO's private quarters to have privacy. It turned out that they had heard of my recommendation to pilot the Britannia and had 'requested' that I be allowed at once to leave for the CASP HQ in America and begin my training, there are perks to being royalty.

After a year I was fully trained and awaiting final clearance to be commissioned as a CASP astronaut. It took mountains of paperwork to get through before I could be cleared for active duty. Thankfully due to the importance of the mission the paperwork was 'finished' in just two weeks, now I could officially take command of the ship and await the launch date.

That came around remarkably fast and before I knew it was about four hours before I needed to suit up and get into the ship for pre-launch startup. When the crew and I were ready to leave the conference room my father walked in, everyone stood and bowed but my father smiled and said it was unnecessary on such a momentous day. Once everyone stood straight once more my father moved along the line of technicians and operation staff shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. When he reached the other astronauts he took special care to greet them all by name and joked with all before wishing them luck and moving on.

Amongst my crew were, two Americans, myself, one Indian and a South African. We had been handpicked for our skills. But of course there were many people in the press had suggested I was selected to lead the mission because of my status as Prince. But I was employed on merit not because of my status. I showed my father the prototype ship we had trained in, he listened attentively and when we were alone, he hugged me and said how proud he was of me and that he would be the first to greet me when we returned home in 2 years' time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter: 2: Destiny

Once my father and I finished our conversation he retreated to the viewing station, where he could monitor all aspects of the launch, while I returned to the briefing room to suit up and prepare to move to the shuttle. I should mention that CASP as clever as they are could not for the sake of them build Britannia on Earth as it was just too heavy to take off in atmosphere, therefore she was assembled in orbit with crew and parts sent to her via the shuttle one of the first and in my opinion greatest feat of engineering of our time, well before Britannia that is.

The shuttle we would travel up in was the Endeavour, built for just such a mission to supply the CSS with resources, food and of course people, and so it was today we would dock with the CSS at approximately 20:00 hours which would give us four hours to board the Britannia and do a run through of her systems before start-up.

After I had checked my crew was correctly suited up and my suit was also correctly fitted, we headed to the tower and along the route we stopped for the customary photos and pre-flight speeches. After that there was no turning back, we were all very nervous but the two American crew members had flew up before so they knew what to expect. When we were fastened into our seats and the main hatch sealed, we joked a little, but once we heard the clamps outside begin to release and the fuel lines cut, we silenced straight away.

I was vaguely listening to the countdown when the South African crew member blasted rock and roll music through our local mic network, so the TV broadcasts would hear it. We all looked at each other before the ignition and burst out laughing, it was a good distraction as a second later we were forced even deeper into our seats.

The initial burn through the atmosphere was uneventful, much to my delight, and as soon as we were clear of the atmosphere and the boosters and fuel tank had decoupled, we set about activating the shuttle's boosters and set a course for the CSS. I took five hours to match our orbits and slow down sufficiently before we were cleared for docking, I remembered being told that on the earlier mission to the CSS they had successfully installed the first prototype Artificial gravity generator to the station and upon docking we would feel the effects of gravity.

For the next few moments we waited for the docking clamps to secure before we unlatched ourselves from the seats and removed our suits, we would have new ones waiting for us on the Britannia. I had to admit I was giddy with excitement upon setting foot onto the station and it was odd stepping out of zero G into an Earth standard gravity field, most of us made the transition easily but the Indian crewman stumbled and fell unceremoniously onto his face, while we all doubled over in hysterics he simply lifted his hand to give us the finger and when standing he couldn't hide the embarrassed grin on his face as he shrugged of his stumble.

When we were greeted by the current CSS crew they said that CASP command had extended the launch window of the Britannia by three hours due to unforeseen delays while fuelling the ship, I didn't worry as it wasn't my ass on the line besides I was pleased to have more time to explore the CSS, however first port of call was the observatory.

Upon entering my crew and I froze as we got our first real look at the Britannia, one of the Americans whistled while the rest of us gawked, I marvelled at the sheer size of the ship, it was enormous, easily the size of two London double-decker buses end to end length ways and as tall as one standing on it's rear. With some serious persuasion we moved on to the science bays, were we would be given our flight injections to counter the effects of zero G bone and muscle degradation, and several more to keep organ functionality normal.

After having what felt like burning oil pumped into my veins, we were told to report to the mess for our last proper meal before we were stuck eating pre hydrated cubes of flavoured muck and every astronaut's favourite, nutrient paste. As we were the first humans to be going on the longest manned space flight in human history we were allowed anything our hearts desired, while the other set about ordering everything under the sun.

I went for a typical Yorkshire roast, best damn food in my opinion, but I'll be honest I did have side orders of everything else, keeping up my strength I said, while the others gorged on their own personal feasts, of course they were very small portions as we weren't supposed to alter our physical mass before entering the ship so after we'd eaten we had to swallow a fast acting pill that super jumped our stomach's, absorbing valuable nutrients and vitamins 5x faster than normal so that there would be no trace of food in our body's before we had to launch.

As I mentioned before our departure was delayed so we spent our free time chatting, exploring the station and looking out at Earth and the Britannia, as the deadline drew nearer we headed for the ship, now fully fuelled and ready for action. Once aboard gravity left us once again and we were glad we had no food in our systems as we lurched around the interior before getting our bearings, once achieved we suited up again, took our positions and waited.

When we were all suited up and buckled in, I opened communications with CASP HQ and proceeded to recite the status of the ship and transmit the computer readings, for final analysis, before being given the green light to depart. As the CSS retracted docking arm, one of the Canadarm industries greatest creations, and the ship drifting freely away from the station, I couldn't help but take one last look at Earth while the mission control crew gave me the go ahead to activate the engines.

With a final breath I hit the ignition and throttled up the main thrusters, of course Commonwealth space doctrine dictates that speeds should not exceed five meters per second while in the vicinity of a satellite or station, so the launch was very anticlimactic, however once the ship reached minimum safe distance I floored it. All of the crew myself included were once again squished into our seats, as five nuclear powered ion thrusters pushed the Britannia forward through space at one hundred thousand Kilometres per second the Britannia's maximum speed, which should make our journey to Mars approximately three and a half weeks.

Thankfully once the ships engines cut out to allow the ship to drift, the pressure on our bodies was released and we were able to unlatch ourselves to move about the cabin. I however, remained seated to ensure our trajectory was accurate and that there were no anomalies or faults to report back to Earth.

Once I was satisfied I too ventured off to explore the ship, unlike the shuttle the Britannia had a flatter at the nose but broadened out towards the back, like a wedge however it was no wider. This did however make the ship very long, that wasn't as problem as it was for ease of access and there was the main tunnel connecting all section of the ship which was wide enough for two people to pass by each other.

When I ventured down the tunnel I could see that the CASP engineers had built the Britannia for speed and comfort, the living quarters were almost on par with civilian comfort, but without the space, although it did leave plenty of room for an exercise machine in each bedroom, saving the long waits for the crew to keep fit and to maintain bodily functions.

Of course the drugs helped but exercise was still the answer for space degradation. I was impressed that they had been able to fit all this into a ship we would only be spending a total of a seven weeks on, which normally would have meant that CASP would spend longer on fitting more science equipment and larger storage bays on the ship, but since we would be on Mars for two years they must have decided that our physical wellbeing was of equal importance to the science.

But I guess all this luxury was to make our flight as relaxing as possible and soon we would be spending a year or so on the surface of another planet where everything we knew was far away and the new world would be as alien to use as we were to it. After checking my quarters fully I ventured out to find the rest of the crew, but I got distracted by a small viewing port and it dawned me that we were the trailblazers of human exploration.

When I found the crew in the communal area I made quite an entrance as I flipped into the wall to slow myself, they all laughed as they knew I hadn't done it on purpose as I had forgotten that the was no gravity. But once I regained control I helped out with activating the only other gravity generation in existence, of course it wasn't the same as the CSS's as it was just a spinning wheel in the centre of the ship, hence this was the science bay, as would need to be sure that all of our highly expensive tool and future valuable Rock samples would be safe from crashing about the ship in Zero G.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter: 3: The Wait

With the voyage well under way and the crew settled in nicely, we were extremely excited to be finally gong where no human had gone before, Mars. Mars had always held a place of enormous pride throughout human history, either for being a god or a supposed life-sustaining planet, and we would be the first people to see it and touch the planet, and because of this momentous undertaking CASP had brought the best to be a part of it.

Now down to the crew themselves, first there was me, the best pilot in the Commonwealth who CASP had requested as they knew that I could adapt to fly the ship. Second there was Dominick Smith, South African Geologist, renowned for his skills at identifying the mineral and chemical compounds in rock samples all over the Earth and the Moon so the obvious choice for Mars.

Thirdly there was Aahlaad Dutta the Commonwealths best Geophysicist. And finally the two Americans, first there was Jacob Williams, our navigator for the Martian surface and second was Julianne Miller, the second in command she and I had been rivals for years when we were in our respective air forces, every time we had a joint flight operation or war game she would always go for me and I for her, it had been a very close for who got the commander position, but in the end it was decided that I should pilot the ship during the flight and she would land the ship and lift it off.

When the Britannia was ten hours out from entering Mars gravity field the crew was assembled in the cockpit already suited up and ready to land. For the next five hours Julia and myself manoeuvred the ship into its pre-scheduled descent path and began to burn the engines retrograde to slow our orbital speed so we could gently slide through the thin Martian atmosphere before deploying our first set of parachutes. When the ship began to shudder and lurch we knew we were entering the atmosphere, we felt a lot more vulnerable now that we had decoupled our interplanetary stage and were now in the forward section of the ship which consisted of the bridge and crew quarters.

When the shuddering and wind noise outside quieted a little and the decent computer flashed green Julia deployed the parachutes and awaited to lower the landing gear, when the ship jumped violently upwards we all let out our breath, I shouted to the rest that it I was glad the parachutes worked, most managed a small grunt of humour but some just closed their eyes and gripped theirs eats tighter, I made a mental note to see them after we landed to check they were ok and that they could have a small break before we had to get to work.

I had to admit I was relieved when the descent computer beeped wildly, indicating that we had touched down, I was surprised I didn't feel anything, but Julia said while turning the computer off that the landing gear were designed to absorbed the impact to reduce crew discomfort, we all said we'd kiss the manufacturer when we returned, as we were all quite giddy from both elation and fried nerves from the descent.

Now that we had safely landed, I had to make sure that none of the systems were damaged and that the communications relay was activated to tell CASP HQ that we had landed safely and we were preparing to exit the ship. After another hour of systems checks, I headed to the airlock with Julia, while the others retrieved the tools from the secondary storage compartment, in the communal area.

When we were all assembled by the airlock I called for radio check and triple checked that all suits and helmets were secured properly and sealed. After I was a hundred percent satisfied, I turned to the door and began to open it once opened, we cramped into the small compartment, sealed the ship side door and depressurised, after an agonisingly wait, I opened the last door and swung it wide to allow all the crew a view of the Red Planet.

"Wow, would you look at that"

Dominick mumbled,

"What you never seen Mars before?"

Aahlaad said sarcastically. It took us all several moments to snap out of our stupor,

"So Captain, when you're ready!"

Julia asked with an amused tone, I half turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised, her face straightened immediately, and looked straight ahead,

"Sorry sir."

she sputtered,

"Its fine just give me a second to enjoy the view."

After I had waited long enough I ventured out of the airlock and onto the ladder. This was the part I was dreading, the speech. However, it was duty so I took a deep breath and began,

"My fellow Commonwealth citizens, on this day August 5th 2015, I Prince Gregory Bryce of the British Empire and the Commonwealth Alliance and the crew of the HMS Britannia take our first steps on the surface of Mars. Let this day bring our species into a new dawn of peaceful cooperation and exploration for generations to come."

With that out of the way I gingerly took my first step off the ladder and onto Mars, it was serial feeling, the culmination of a decade's worth of research and development had led to this moment. With the first foot trodden I left the human construct for the alien environment. With Mars gravity at 3.711m/s squared, 6.069m/s squared less than Earth, I felt incredibly light and free even with the bulky spacesuit I was able to move freely, after several small hops away from the ship I turned to place the camera I held to take pictures of the ship and the crew.

When the others were grounded and I had re-joined them we unwrapped the Commonwealths flag, which was a picture of the Earth with the Union Jack in the left corner, and held it between us as I pressed the capture button.

That image along with the speech would be sent via the radar dish straight to the Commonwealth Broadcasting Centre to be shown worldwide for all to see, that would be the only still image of us during our one year and five month exploration of the Northern half of Mars first stop Olympus Mons. However, before that we had to unload Buggy and the raise the planet wide communication relay so that we could broadcast our science data back to the ship then to Earth. In addition we had to plant the flag,

"Julia stop messing with the flag and get the pole fitted"

I called, she looked over and grinned,

"Hey we've already pictured the flag why do we have to stick it the ground?"

"It's expected, Julia" Jacob drawled.

After the flag had been planted and the buggy was ready to go, we loaded in and set off, it wasn't like we needed the GPS as it wasn't hard to miss our destination, although it was a day's drive but that's the advantage of having enclosed buggy, we could take off our suits and it had proper sleeping bunks, so we could take shifts of driving so we would arrive fresh and ready to work. After the day's drive and everyone wearing to get to work we all ventured outside to get a proper look at the mountain, after all of us had sore necks from leaning back to see the top, we got to work. First we had to catalogue the soil and rock composition then scan for recognisable materials and possible artificial constructs.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter: 4: Earth Shattering

After we started up the scanners we discovered that the CASP engineers had increased the range of our scanners so that we could now see objects and mineral composites over a mile away including through soil. When trained the scanners on the mountain it beeped and showed possible artificial construct.

"Captain you should look at this."

Aahlaad called, as I ventured closer he motioned to look at his scanner, when I took it from him, I glanced at the screen, then did a double take and looked at him,

"Are you kidding me Aahlaad?" I asked giving him a curious smile,

"No seriously this is legit!"

I cleared the scanner of the last recorded data and then proceeded to scan Aahlaad's sector once more, when I scanned over the mountain, and the scanner beeped again. As the scanner scrolled through the chemical makeup and elemental composition, it started to make a 3D image of the structure, there was no denying it, it was artificial and nature doesn't build in perfect right angles.

When all the crew had checked and double checked the scanner, we all agreed that this was an alien construction and need to be reported. As captain I had the clearance to use the real-time communication device in the buggy, but that would use up nearly all the available stored energy so we would be stranded until the cells recharged. After I was in the buggy and the communication array booted up and linked to the CSS, I waited for the CASP senior staff to receive the call. After a few seconds, the face of my father appeared,

"Oh hello, I wasn't expecting you?"

I said taken aback,

"Well I wanted to be the first person to answer this call after all it is going to be big."

He smiled but after my hesitation my father caught on and went serious,

"What is it son? What have you found?"

I hesitated for a moment before finding the right words,

"Well it's a little difficult to explain, but we found evidence of alien life."

At this it was my father's turn to hesitate, as did all the visible CASP personnel behind him, my voice had been broadcast through mission control and everyone froze when I said alien life.

An uproar of hysteria and shouting developed in mission control, my father slowly calmed them all down by shouting the loudest for silence. Once order had been restored, my father turned back to the screen and looked at me with a very serious face,

"Son what do you mean you have found evidence of alien life?"

I uploaded the scanner data so everyone on my fathers end could see it,

"While scanning Olympus Mons for mineral deposits my colleague Aahlaad's scanner indicated possible artificial construction, at this he called me over, once I checked his scanner I reset the scanner and scanned again when the scanner beeped again I looked once more and a 3D image of the structure was displayed and it was confirmed that it was artificial as it was built with perfect right angles."

After five days of bickering and finally coming to an agreement, it was decided that our mission was postponed indefinitely and we were to investigate the alien structure and report back immediately if we make contact with the aliens. After we hastily bundled the tools and samples had managed to collect into the buggy and quickly followed them.

After five days of waiting around you would think we'd be ready to go, but with the discovery of alien life we were to dazed to even move the tools from where they were left, now that we had been given direction we moved faster than ever, and within half an hour we were moving around the mountain the entrance of the structure. We all sat in silence the whole way, I guessed we were all still running over the situation in our minds, we'd been on Mrs less than a week and we had discovered alien life.

Three hours driving went by before we reached the point where the entrance should have been, but what we saw was more mountainside, but the scanners assured us that the structure was no more than five meters inside. Thankfully, we had the very best excavation equipment humans produced, we set about digging our way inside the mountain at first it was easy but after a few meters, with the tiredness and excitement progress began to slow.

It was when we were about to stop for a quick break, when Jacob and Dominick's' tools hit metal, it was loud enough so we all heard the clang and stopped to look at the alien the structure now reached we began again. Soon we had exposed the entire door and then excavated back out towards the buggy and started to set up support columns so that we would have a large area in front of the structure to allow us to set up camp outside the structure while we worked on open it.

After the sun had started to set, we had removed a large proportion of the soil covering the entrance, with a new open ended cave we set up our new base of operations. Once we had secured our self-contained sleeping tents and extended the sides of the buggy to allow room for a small dinner table and science laboratory, I ventured over to the structure and I just couldn't get over the fact that we had found an alien construction.

Obviously we had no idea how to open it, but CASP assured us that we would be able to crack it after we had enough time to figure it out. However, with the excitement and prolonged digging I ordered that the crew to take the evening off, thankfully we had just installed the airtight seal around the entrance, it basically was just a poly plastic film that expands outward to fit the available space, once achieved it pumps the necessary and essential gases into the enclosed space to make it breathable.

This allowed us to remove our suits and roam the cave danger free. While the others went about cleaning their suits and getting ready for some much needed sleep, I couldn't resist the urge to touch the Martian soil with my fingers, despite what we had discovered I didn't let it get in front of the fact that I was on a different planet.

It took us the rest of the month before we even started to see any results, the result being that we finally managed to identify and catalogue the materials used in the structure, it was surprising how similar the materials were, however they had been extensively modified to incorporate materials that we had never seen before, but during the month, we had managed to identify an electric current that we traced to what could only be described as a junction box. The only problem was that we had no way to get to the wires or whatever was carrying the current.

Eventually Julia suggested that we try using a particle emission pulse try to disrupt the flow of energy or an EMP and see if the door reacts. So we dug out our small but powerful particle beam and set it up at the convergence point. Once we had retreated back slightly Jacob activate the beam and it immediately started sending out every form of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum one after another. After firing every electromagnetic ray at the convergence point with no change, our hope started to dwindle, it was only when Dominick got frustrated with the door and kicked it that we saw a slight jolt in the energy flow, only to have it stabilize moments later.

I let out a sigh as Dominick continued to kick the door,

"Dominick cut it out!"

I shouted, with one final kick he stopped and slumped against the door and sank to the floor. It was at that point that the energy surge increased to a point where it started to emit its own electromagnetic pulse that sent our own pulse levels rising dangerously. When the beams pulse reached overload capacity, the electric field from the structure fluctuated and died. When the power failed the door moved, parting straight down the middle and continuing to spread apart. With the sudden shift in the door right behind where Dominick was leaning he had no time to react he slipped through the gap and kept going, I rushed over to where he'd vanished and couldn't see anything other than a steep gradient leading straight down.

"Dom! Are you ok!"

I shouted while looking at the others "get me my suit and a flashlight" while they rushed about, Jacob handed me a light I rushed into the tunnel and flicked the light on.

I hadn't gone very far before I spotted Dominick lying on his back rasping for breath, at that moment I felt light-headed and realised that the aliens probably breathed a different air. So reacting just on instinct I stopped breathing and grabbed Dominick under his shoulders and started dragging him back to the entrance, but at this point I was feeling very dizzy and my vision started to blur after a few more meters I lost my grip and collapsed myself, before blacking out I heard Julia's voice shouting my name before I lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter: 5: First Contact

When I woke I was back outside the structure in the buggy, I slowly sat up and stood gingerly, I still felt a little dizzy but much better than before. I went outside to the entrance again and found Julia and Jacob coming out of the tunnel in the suits,

"What happened to me and Dom?"

I asked when they noticed me,

"You and Dom suffered mild asphyxiation before we pulled you back outside"

Jacob said,

"So why am not in quarantine?"

He paused for a second then spoke,

"Well you were initially and we ran all the necessary tests and found that there was no risk of contamination."

This took me a moment to process,

"Wait I was in an alien environment with no suit and I'm not a threat to your safety? Then why are you wearing your suits?"

I asked,

"Well after your were retrieved and scanned your were clean, and there is no atmosphere in the structure, hence the suits."

With this information I began to form new conclusions about why there was no atmosphere, first thought was that the aliens didn't need one or possibly the life support was offline, but I wouldn't know standing out here. When I started putting my suit on Julia tried to quote medical doctrine at me but when I pulled rank on her and said I wasn't going to sit on my arse while they explored an alien base.

After she saw my expression at her 'requests' she shut up pretty quick. But before I went back in I checked on Dominick, he had been in the base longer than I and was still out but Aahlaad assured me he would be fine and we follow us in when Dom awoke. Once I was at the mouth of the tunnel and Jacob and Julia beside me, we walked back down into the now illuminated tunnel,

"After you two had fainted and tucked up safe and sound me and Julia came in to set up the lights, as far as the tunnels goes before it ends."

Jacob said jokingly,

"I appreciate your concern and when we return to Earth I'll nominate you for my place as Emperor, how's that sound?"

Jacob smiled,

"Well as long as you don't mind your highness?"

I punched his arm and laughed at the banter, Jacob and I got on really well, so it was easy to bounce off insults at each other. Upon reaching the end of the tunnel we exited into a large room that strongly resembled an airlock or decontamination chamber, however the doors were open so we continued on, filming everything as we went.

The next room was even more recognisable, it reminded me a lot of the British Commercial spaceport arrivals terminal, only without the shops dotted around the edges, as we continued further through the Station, as we now called it, was deemed to be a research station as we had discovered several sealed rooms with tubes and what looked like rock samples inside. However, we were convinced this was just one side of the Station as we had found what looked like a tram-line that went much further into the mountain and much deeper.

Three more months of exploration and research we had confirmed that the Station was indeed a research station as we had managed to splice our portable power module into the junction box, now that the power was restored to the entrance part of the station we could start to find out what if any data was in the Stations virtual database, however all we had managed to do was power was the door controls, this had it advantages as now we could open the sealed science vaults, for that we dawned the suits once more as who knows what the aliens had experimented with and since the arrivals area was now oxygenated we hadn't need the suits.

All the crew assembled outside the first sealed door and spliced the module in the doors power junction, after a little re-adjusting the wires the door slid apart, first in was Dom who instantly went over to the samples on the tables and started scanning them while the rest of us explored further, when all the labs had been search we didn't find any new information every lab had the same samples in various stages of dismantlement, it was obvious the alien had experimented with ways of taking this material apart.

After we had explored every inch of 'Arrivals' we decided to put more power into the aliens' power grid, so we planned to hook up the buggy's power core to the tram-line to see if the tram would come back to our side however, I needed to contact command.

"Hello Earth."

I said when he open the transmission,

"Hello to you too Mars, I'm sure you have a lot to tell us"

After a very long talk and all of our data sent over I had to get back to the Station for our ride over to the second part of the Station. When I got into the tram terminal, the other were ready to go, so when we jumped on and used our new control mechanism, consisting of one of our touchpads that controlled the power flow to the tram-line. With the tram moving down the tracks the familiar feeling of excitement and wonder returned.

After a quick journey down the line we pulled up at a yet another decontamination chamber, only this one was wasn't empty, none of us uttered a noise as we started in shock and horror as what we were seeing dawned on us. In front of us was the decayed corpse of an alien, it was remarkably well intact as it was sealed into sealed clean environment. The longer we started the more I realised that we needed to get in there,

"Aahlaad open the door"

I managed to choke out he turned open moved to face me,

"Are you mad sir?"

He stammered incredulously,

"We need to get in there to study that body!"

I said not taking my eyes off the corpse,

When he moved to the control panel he crouched down and pulled the casing off and attached the power modules jump leads to the doors wires, only the door remained sealed,

"Sir it's not responding."

He said flustered,

"Try another one fry the circuits if you have to."

He shook his head but reattach the wires and after he'd finished attaching the wires to a different set of alien counterparts and turned up the power modules energy, the control panel fizzed and smoked and the door slide open a little.

Wanting to get in now I grabbed the door and pulled using all my strength to pull it open far enough to allow me in my suit to fit through, now inside I stood over the corpse taking in the detail of its face and its body, it was humanoid in physical appearance, two legs and arms, the only difference was that it had four eyes, a flat nose and no visible ears and its head was slightly elongated at the back with ridges along its length, it also had no body hair and that would have remained if it had any as it was in a sterile environment for god knows how long.

When Julia joined me in the room she looked from the body to me then crouched and inserted the carbon dater into its neck and waited, after a little wait, Julia removed the dater and looked at it screen. For the first time since knowing Julia she gasped, I looked at her in surprise, she looked at me with utter shock on her face,

"This body its Fifty thousand years old!"

After the body had been moved from the decontamination chamber and placed in a sterile bag to preserve it, we then high tailed it back to the surface and contacted command.

"Hello is anyone receiving, we have found an alien corpse and brought it back for study, however, evidence shows that the body is fifty thousand years old, possible danger residing inside the second part of the station, please advise."

I didn't wait for a confirmation before speaking I knew that the message would get through so I just waited for a response,

"Slow down there son, what you mean the alien has been dead for fifty thousand years, does that mean the Station was abandoned, by their species and they were left to die?"

My father's voice was oddly calm but no less serious,

"Dad, I don't know what to tell you, but were all pretty freaked out by this, and if I'm honest I not sure we want to back down there"

My voice on the other hand was shaky and extremely serious.

"Now son, calm down, you're a RAF pilot you've trained for high stress missions."

I slowed my breathing a little and concentrated,

"Okay, you're right but I still haven't trained for finding and alien base possibly full of dead aliens!"

I almost shouted, this was now far beyond my pay grade. Over the next hour my father told me he was talking with CASP to arrange a second mission to Mars within the week to assist us with the exploration and securing of the second side of the Station, and should we encounter an alien threat we would be authorised to use deadly force, so the second mission would be bring a limited supply of weapons, that only trained and authorised personnel would have access to.

After only a month and a half our orbital scanner showed we had a new contact, it was the HMS Agincourt, and it was secret to the world and it was actually older than the Britannia, as it was constructed by the military and was the first and only armed space vessel humans had built. The Agincourt was unique in that it could land and take off without splitting in two, it also carried a full regiment of Royal Marines, and they were here to secure and neutralise any threat inside section B of the Station.

The marines were the best soldiers from each country on the Earth and none-more so than the Canadian Sniper, Liam Taylor or as his preferred to be called 'Piper' to which nobody knew why. When they had landed and assembled at our makeshift base at the entrance to the Station, we showed them to the tram-line and set the tram moving, Liam came over to us and motioned for me to take his assault rifle,

"You've been approved for use of a firearm, but I don't need the assault, the sniper is my weapon."

I looked at the rifle he offered me then back to Liam and pushed it back towards him tilted his head in confusion,

"What are you doing sir?"

He asked nonchalantly,

"I'm not here for my fighting skills, I'm here for exploration, and peaceful discovery"

At that he paused then laughed and walked away, leaving the rifle with me. My crew looked after Liam then back to me,

"What's he expecting you do be doing? Didn't your father send the marines for them to do any shooting?"

Dominick said looking after Liam,

"Yeah he did, still doesn't explain why he thinks I need a rifle".

When we reached the first airlock door, the marines piled into the small space and prepared for a breaching manoeuvre, at this Dominick stepped forward and placed himself between the door and the marines, despite much shouting and cursing.

"Hey quieten down guys, let me just open this without blowing this facility to pieces!"

While he set about cannibalising the doors controls, the marines were getting restless, they weren't use to the slow methodical pace of scientists, but as soon as Dominick had powered up the door and it slide open the marines charged into the dark room while their light sensitive shoulder touches lit illuminating a scene most would have thrown up from which Jacob and Dominick did. Smeared all over the floor and walls, was dried blood stains and piles of bones scattered all over the place, while Jacob and Dominick recovered from their convulsions with the help from Julia and Aahlaad, I stepped further into the room while the marines signalled that it was all clear.

I moved towards the closest blood smear and realised that there were finger trails dragged through it,

"What's happened in here!"

One of the marines called,

"I couldn't tell you mate, we've just got here"

I responded, several minutes later the marines had split into small teams and were searching through each room setting up lights and moving on. After five hours they had mapped and searched that entire side of the Station, throughout the facility blood stains and bones could be found throughout. The members of my crew and I moved about the station trying to find the cause of all this death but so far no luck, although we were overloaded by dormant computers and biological and metallic samples, we had found at the centre of this side of the Station was what we presumed, was the computer network hub station. Although it would take a lot of research and decoding before it was of any us, we were confident that the cause of the alien's deaths and untold technological data would be revealed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter: 6: Home

After we had secured and mapped section B my crew and I set about trying to reactivate the computer core, but most of our computers were just too weak to breach the mainframe and with the hub being on low power we had only managed to get a small part of the software to boot up. Just after I had pulled myself out of the small crevice that housed the Cores hardware, Liam strolled over to me,

"Sorry to interrupt sir, but you have a priority one message awaiting you aboard the Agincourt."

As I stood I could hear Aahlaad scrambling to exit the crevice,

"Why are they calling the Agincourt if they want to speak to you."

He said as he popped his head out of the hole.

"Beats me?"

I shrugged at him as I moved to follow Liam.

Once we reached topside we take a short ride over to the Agincourt, after we had entered the hangar bay, Liam pointed towards a display panel on the far wall,

"I wouldn't hang around too long sir, he's waited long enough as it is."

Liam said as if it was my fault that they called a surface based radio. When I enter my security code into the ships mainframe, my father appeared,

"Hello father, might I ask why you are calling for me on the Agincourt, I'm sure our own comms are working well enough."

His smile never faltered,

"That they are son, but this is not something I want your crewmates to hear, I have requested your immediate withdrawal from Mars. You are to cease all operations at once gather your things and prep your crew you'll shall be leaving on the Agincourt for lift off at 15:00 hours tomorrow."

Despite my pleading and begging my crew and I were to return to Earth and be debriefed on our findings, we had spent our full mission time on Mars and were due to return anyway. But that didn't make it any harder to accept, we had found alien life well what was once life and a goldmine of alien technology at our fingertips that we would be able to recover.

So after my talk with my father I walked into the Arrivals section of the Station to see my crews heads swing round to look at me, all with hope in their eyes. However when they saw my expression they slumped and turned away, I was assured that they would all return to Mars to assist in the research and decoding of the alien language, but at a later date when a larger and better equipped team would be station here.

Therefore over the next day we packed up our gear and loaded into the buggy, all the crew were quiet including the normally vocal Dominick. As I turned to climb into the cockpit, I heard footsteps behind me and looked to see who it was.

"Sir you know that your are supposed to leaving on-board the Agincourt"

Liam stated as he stood awkwardly at attention,

"If it's all the same to you Sergeant, I'd rather give my team a chance to live a bit of the glory from this poxy expedition. They were the first humans on Mars, the first humans to discover alien life and look how their rewarded, sent back to Earth because of low food supplies! Honestly CASP could have come up with a better excuse, seriously they could just send more over here wouldn't you think!"

I shouted at Liam, of course he didn't deserve it he was just relaying orders from command, but I just couldn't take it that they wanted to take my team away from the scientific discovery of a lifetime, if not several life times and then have the audacity to ask that we take a ride on another ship just so they could pick our brains all the quicker.

Liam looked quick unhappy at being shouted at but he didn't flinch, he simply saluted and walked away towards the base leaving me to climb aboard the buggy and drive away towards the Britannia.

"Greg?"

I heard Julia call from the rear of the buggy,

"We know you tried to keep us here, just don't go blaming yourself for what some stupid politician or psychologist has demanded back at HQ."

I let out a long sigh but didn't say anything, I just couldn't look them in the eye, knowing that they were heartbroken for having to leave and it was all due to my father worrying that they were beginning to crack under the stress of this mission, and that it would be safer and more efficient to have fresh minds take over, not that I blamed him, there were signs that the crew were beginning to get frazzled by the mental stresses of trying to crack an alien nutshell.

The drive back to the Britannia was a long and silent journey broken only back the sound of crunching rocks under the wheels outside. When we finally reached the ship, I opened the hatch for the others to disembark but I stayed seated, hands gripped firmly on the steering wheel, I stayed like that for several minutes while the others moved between the buggy and the ship loading up the few soil and rock samples we had collected, as well as the first alien corpse. They all worked in silence until everything was loaded, then they boarded the ship to await lift-off.

I reversed the buggy and then drove it up the small ramp into the underbelly of the Britannia. Once I had secured it I told Julia to seal the garage doors and prepare for lift-off. After I took my place in the co-pilots seat and strapped myself down, I gave Julia the thumbs up to ignite. When I didn't see Julia move to press the ignition I looked over to her only to see the back of her head, I turned as much as the seat straps would allow to look at the other two. They also had the heads turned looking out at the Martian surface and the distant Olympus Mons.

"Guys I promise you I'll do everything in my power to get you back here as soon as possible."

I didn't expect a response and in truth I'm glad I didn't get one, I simply put a hand on Julia's shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze, to which she looked at me and gave a weak smile

"I know you will Greg."

She half whispered, then hit the ignition.

The return journey was thankfully quick and uneventful, and soon we were entering Earth's atmosphere and the parachutes deployed,

"It's a shame!"

I shouted over the roar of the wind outside,

"What is?"

Julia shouted back,

"Well it doesn't seem fitting to ditch the old girl this way. You think they'd park us in orbit and shuttle us down"

Easier to speak at a normal level when the howl outside died away.

"Who said anything about ditching?"

Julia winked,

"You not seriously gonna,"

I was cut short but Julia throttling up the engines once more and slowing the Britannia enough for her to steer the ship towards the Florida coastline.

"Well I'm not going to let this ship go out without a bang!"

She said with a devilish glint in her eyes,

"Well I won't say anything against this plan, and rest assured you won't be punished for this little stunt"

I smiled at her, I was glad to see that Julia had regained some of her former fire from before leaving Mars and it would be something for the media to go mad about. A six tonne Spaceship built-in orbit landing on the Cape Canaveral Space ports launch Pad. It was a relatively easy landing considering the size of the Britannia and her weight, and it certainly got Mission controls attention, I switched the inbound transmissions off as they had started screaming at Julia to abort the landing and cut engines.

"Let it never be said that you Yanks haven't got balls of steel!"

Dominick shouted,

"Damn Straight!"

I said in a mimicked Texas accent, which drew laughs from everyone as Julia expertly touched us down.

"Well I hope you know that we're in for some real hot water once we open these doors."

Aahlaad said,

"Ah who cares, what are they gonna do take away your crown and lock us away? Where Empire wide heroes, they can't touch us without the public rioting."

Jacob smirked as he reached for the door. Once he had lowered the lander and climbed down he waited for the rest of us to join him while he watched a steady stream of armed guards and military trucks thundering down the runway straight for the ship.

"Well you were right at that hot water."

Aahlaad said while swallowing hard,

"Don't you worry mate, I'll take care of this."

I stepped out away from the ship towards the nearest guards,

"Stop right there or I will open fire!"

The youngest of the guards shouted as I drew closer to him,

"What you seriously going to shoot me? I just got back from Mars mate, I'm going to have a shower, come shoot me when I'm clean."

I retorted as I kept moving his way,

"I don't care where you've been, now stop moving and raise your hands above your head!"

He practically screamed this time, I turned to motion the others to join me when, and loud crack went off right in front of me and I let out a loud cry as I clasped my chest, where the bullet that the Private had just fired had struck. I fell to my knees and saw copious amounts of blood gushing from my now crimson suit, as he ran forward his rifle raised and struck me on the side of the head 'Some homecoming' I thought just before he struck.

When I started to regain consciousness, all I could feel was pain radiation from the left side of my head and the side of my chest, I could also make out what sounded like a swarm of bees all around me, but gradually the buzzing faded and words took its place, but I still couldn't register what was being said, all I knew was that the person shouting was angry, incredibly angry.

The shouting was making my head feel like it was about to split in two, and because of this I let out a loud groan and slowing moved my arms to cover my ears. When I make a noise the shouting stopped and then I felt hands grasp my suit and gently rolled me over. I hadn't realised but I had lain face down on the runway in a pool of my blood, which mean that I had only been unconscious for mere moments.

However, when this stranger rolled me onto my back I couldn't help but cry out in agony as my side exploded into flames, but the stranger just kept tugging at my suit causing me more and more pain, I could feel myself slowing drifting into the blackness once more when the suit was removed from my torso and the wound exposed.

Again more shouting erupted, and my ears began buzzing once again and with the pain in my side growing even more by the second I couldn't help but scream. It was only moments after the suit had been removed that I felt the a small jab just above the wound, and the pain all but vanished I stopped screaming and opened my eyes, really wished I hadn't though, as the bright harsh sunlight piece my eyes and I screwed them shut.

Of the next few minutes of lying on the baking tarmac with the pain in my head and side ebbing away, I repeatedly tried to open my eyes for longer. I didn't see an awful lot of then the blue sky and small wispy clouds far above me, although that view changed when I saw a face appear straight in front of me thankfully dimming the light. It took me a moment to register who I was staring at but when it clicked I smiled, Julia was over me so I couldn't be in danger anymore, she would have seen to that.

"Greg talk to me! Come on you stupid Brit bastard!"

She said a little too loud for my liking,

"Hey you are you calling a bastard you yank tosser."

I croaked but she smiled all the same,

"Jesus you had us worried there for a minute."

She said as she sat back to allow the rest of my crew to look at me,

"Well doc what's the problem?"

I asked,

"Well you have no doubt got a very severe concussion and you have been shot in the side of your chest, fortunately it hit you rib and stopped, unfortunately your rib splintered, you will have to have surgery to remove the splinters from your lungs and to have the rib reset."

Julia said matter-of-factly,

"That all?"

I laughed but I was cut short by the searing pain down my side accompanied by a grunt of pain,

"Yeah try not to laugh or cough for the foreseeable future."

Aahlaad stated while tightly wrapping a makeshift bandage around the wound,

"Great just my luck, get back to Earth and get shot by some trigger happy moron! That reminds me, where is the fool anyway?"

I asked while trying to stand only to have Julia push me back,

"Not so fast their young man!"

I scowled at her but she ignored me,

"The Private is at this very moment having his face blow off by his Sergeant and very soon your father, if that makes you feel better?"

She said while looking off to the side, I tilted my head the same way to look at the Private,

"Why did he shot me?"

I thought aloud,

"I think it had something to do with the unscheduled landing, but I don't get why he didn't recognise you."

Dominick said also looking at the weeping Private.

When Aahlaad asked the Sergeant why the Private had shot me he explained that the base had been on high alert as when the Britannia had appeared on radar CASP hadn't realised it was the ship as it wasn't due to land at the base so they had suspected a terrorist threat and mobilised ground forces as there was no time to scramble fighters. So when we exited the ship and I strolled towards the Private he thought I was a terrorist imposing as the Prince and when I turned he thought I was about to draw a weapon on him, so I had to give him credit. When Aahlaad told me this I tried to stand again only to have Julia lightly put her boot on my chest to pin me to the floor,

"Julia get off of me, don't make me pull rank."

I wheezed,

"Isn't gonna happen sir, were waiting on an ambulance to come and move you, I only gave you pain-killer and coagulants to stop the bleeding and sprayed the wound with disinfectant but we need to get you to hospital, so no moving!"

I tried my best to glare at her through foggy eyes,

"I just want to talk to the Private."

I tried to move again but Julia pressed a little harder and I gave up under the pain,

"Fine, but will you get him over here?"

She looked down at me with a devilish grin on her face,

"What do you say?"

I rolled my eyes then looked at her again, she knew that I was in trouble but she figured humour would keep me active, plus with me in this state she could get away with pretty much anything

"Please!"

I gasped to which I saw her eyes narrow slightly at my feeble voice,

"Hey you! Private come here!"

She shouted and the Private was standing the in seconds, he didn't look down to where I lay he just stared at Julia,

"Yes Ma'am!"

He squeaked as he snapped of a salute, to which Julia slapped him clean across the face,

"Not me you idiot!"

She shouted and jerked her head downwards.

It took him a moment before he looked down,

"Ye-yes s-s-sir?!"

He said with new tears in his eyes,

"Kid stop crying!"

I tried to say clearly and assertive but my voice was hoarse and faint, he brushed his eyes but didn't look away,

"Don't worry about what you did, okay, you were just following orders, don't ever question your decision!"

I rasped, but brightened when he smiled slightly and gave a textbook salute,

"Thank you sir!"

He said with renewed courage,

"Right, now piss off!"

Jacob snapped and the private scuttled away,

"Please tell me the drugs were talking just then?"

Dominick said as he stared at me,

"No that was me, I didn't want him doing something stupid, and besides he did his job."

It was a real strain to form words now,

"Julia can you tell the ambulance to hurry up? I'm not feeling so good"

I managed to say as my world darkened was more.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter: 7: Debrief

I don't know how long I was out the second time round but it must have been a while because when I woke I was lying in a hospital bed, I tried to move and felt the same pain as before in my side and when I moved the hospital gown I could see a small line down the side of my chest with stitches all the way along. I looked at the stitches and thought that the wound looked remarkably well healed, but my thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door I looked over and smiled when I saw my crew. They were all of theirs suits and in casual clothing,

"How long have I been out of it?"

My hoarse voice asked, to which I coughed uncontrollably and grunted in pain, and a nurse came around from behind the bed to hand me a glass a water and soothed my breathing back to normal.

When the coughing subsided and I settled back into the bed and breathed deeply, I looked back to the crew they all had worried expressions,

"What?"

I asked with a smile, but was meet with serious faces and a small silence,

"You've been out for a week, mostly due to medication, your rib caused quite a bit of damage when it shattered, the doctors had to remove the bone fragments and then most of the rib as one part had embedded itself into your lung, so there was a lot of internal bleeding."

Jacob said at last,

"Thankfully that's all cleared up now."

Came a deep voice from being them, they turned and instantly stood at attention and snapped of salutes.

My father walked in before dismissing them, he then walked over to my bed and sat down,

"I'm sorry I didn't meet up when you landed, we weren't expecting the Britannia to land at Canaveral!"

He said in a joking tone,

"So how are you feeling son?"

He asked obviously worried but glad to see me awake,

"Well it was an eventful homecoming to say the least."

I laughed and he joined in visibly relaxing at the sound of my laughter. I spent the next week in hospital having my rib repaired but after that I was free to leave. Julia and the others had come to visit pretty much every day, and they informed me that our debriefing would be held when I was released from hospital, so as I checked out I asked the desk nurse to call CASP and tell them to contact me when they were ready.

No sooner had I left the hospital and hailed and cab I realised that there were no press or civilians cramming to interview me, but as I was thinking this the taxi driver turned around and froze,

"Blimey, you're the Captain of the Britannia aren't ya?"

He asked obviously shocked,

"Yeah that's me, why so surprised I thought the Britannia's return would be big news not to mention the aftermath."

I smiled,

"I don't pay much attention to the news, I thought you were still on Mars! And what do you mean aftermath, ay, why you leaving a hospital, where are your guards?"

He was well and truly out of the loop,

"Well I was shot after we landed and have been in there for two weeks."

His jaw dropped,

"What fool would shoot the Prince?"

I smiled,

"Long story and probably classified, sorry mate."

He shrugged,

"No worries guvnor, so where can I take ya?"

I smiled at his accent,

"CASP headquarters please."

He turned and drove away,

"Sit tight your majesty, we'll be there in a jiffy."

When we pulled up at CASP HQ I thanked the driver and went to pay him but he said that it was an honour to drive the Prince of the Empire and it would be a great insult to charge me for the ride, despite his protests I left the allotted fare charge on his passenger seat and walked away before he could give it back. I was glad to see the Crew assembled outside the doors, thankfully I had the sense to change into the dress uniform my father had brought me before coming here.

They had all been given CASP uniforms upon joining so they were all smartly dressed, however I wasn't entitled to wear the CASP uniform so I opted for my service dress.

"Check out the airmen Julia."

Jacob teased as he nudge her side she responded by pushing him aside as she looked me up and down,

"Lucky for some."

I simply smiled innocently and walked past them and into to building.

Inside we found the chairmen and women of the CASP senior board, waiting by the doors to the debriefing room, when the spotted us approaching some smiled widely, while others crossed their arms and frowned, my father was among those gathered and was smiling, thankfully. I had feared that his good attitude was earlier in the month was due to my well-being, but it was nice to see that he didn't hold any bad will about the landing incident.

"Son, good to see you up and well again."

He said as he hugged me tightly, I stiffened slightly as he brushed the stitches and he pulled back,

"Sorry about that, I'm just glad your home and safe."

I returned the embrace and ignored the pain. My father had never been one for not showing affection and I appreciated his concern,

"Its fine Dad."

I said and looked at the other committee members, I stepped back in line with my crew and saluted them.

"Come now your majesty, there's no need for such formalities. Not after what you've been through"

A elderly gentlemen said as he moved to shake my hand, but before I could match his action an equally elderly angry-looking women stepped around her older counterpart and stopped between the two of us,

"I hope you're happy Captain, not only did you jeopardise the safekeeping of the Britannia you also risked an extremely valuable biological specimen!"

She spoke in a raised aggressive tone, obviously forgetting that the Emperor was standing mere feet from her.

"I will have you know Chairwoman Belgard, that I would never jeopardise the lives of my crew, which in case it might have skipped your mind are the ones responsible for uncovering that specimen and for uncovering the alien facility in the first place! And also if you would be so kind and not brush aside the fact that my crew have been through a lot to bring you these samples, and I would appreciate that you pay them the proper courtesy of getting them."

I said as I matched her tone.

"I have no interest in exchanging pleasantries with reckless, lazy fools, who are willing put lives and billions of pounds worth of equipment on the line!"

She shouted as took a step towards me,

"I am not asking that you do this Belgard I am telling you too!"

I kept my tone cool and assertive and I closed the distance between me and the older women. She wasn't used to having people challenge her authority and it showed, she took a half step back as I approach and was about to retort, when my father put his hand between us and stepped forward,

"Enough! Both of you!"

My father shouted while glancing from me to the chairwoman,

"Remember who you are talking two Belgard, This is not one of your secretaries and these are not lazy fools, you will apologise to each of them in term and you will announce your resignation from this committee when we have concluded our business!"

My father had a way of not raising his voice at all, but the seriousness of his voice showed his anger.

"But your majesty, I am merely fulfilling the role you bestowed upon me?"

Belgard spoke in a forced sweet submissive voice,

"Be that as it may, you will not address these brave men and women of being reckless, and you will certainly never question my son's authority judgment, is that understood!"

He said,

"Clearly my 'lord."

She said as she bowed theatrically while the room was deathly silent as my father looked upon the old woman with distaste,

"Well shall we proceed?"

The first chairman said,

"An excellent idea, lead on Malcom."

As my father moved alongside the old chairman, and the others swiftly followed.

I stared at the ex-chairwoman a moment before moving around her after the group,

"You will regret this young Prince."

I heard her whisper as I passed to which I turned to address her,

"Avice Belgard, I thank you for your service to the crown and her people's."

I said with just a hint of sarcasm,

"Just you wait!"

She spat back, pretending to wipe away moisture from my face I turned my head the door guards who had moved to a defensive posture at the women's actions,

"If you would be so kind gentlemen to escort this women to the Crown Court of Justice, to await trial for High Treason."

I said in the same tone my father used on me as a boy when I had done something wrong.

When I turn to walk away, I spotted Julia standing there, smiling slightly as the shouts of the older women died away,

"Your majesty?"

She feigned fear,

"Remind me never to piss you off!"

She spoke in her true tone,

"Well I seem to remember you calling me a Brit bastard a while back."

A broad smile on my face awaiting her retort as we took our seats,

"No that was just the meds in your system, you were dreaming"

She said with an almost straight face as we entered the committee chamber. The debrief was over almost as soon as it started, the committee just wanted to make sure that the crew was mentally stable and that they could be trusted to maintain secrecy, as our discovery had not yet been released to the public, my father had wanted us home before the word spread. After the meeting I walked over to my father,

"So what should I do now?"

I asked genuinely confused as what to do,

"Well you're officially on leave from the air force and you're a CASP pilot, so I say that entitles you for some shore leave."

I smiled and thanked him, then turned and left for the airport.

When I reached the airport I was just about to buy a ticket for Paris when I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned and saw Aahlaad and Dominick,

"Hey guys, where you off too?"

I asked as I handed my passport across the counter to the attendant and turned back to Aahlaad,

"Well I'm going home to say hi to my folks."

Aahlaad smiled, I waited for him to buy his ticket, meanwhile I looked at Dom

"So Dom where you heading?"

He hadn't spoken at all while waiting,

"I've been suspended from CASP."

He said as though it wasn't a big deal but there was an underlying tone to his voice that hinted to something else,

"Why?"

I asked stunned, "something about being unstable and endangering the mission."

I was about to respond but stopped myself, Dom had lost his cool on Mars and who knows what countermeasures might have been deployed after he kicked the door to the base. He noticed my hesitation and smiled,

"Don't worry about it mate at least I can say I was the first human to enter an alien structure, all be it ungracefully."

I forced a laugh but I could see that Aahlaad was thinking the same that Dom had risked everything by losing his temper, and now he was paying the price. After waiting in the departures lounge for a couple of hours, now on my own, as Aahlaad's' and Dom's flights had been earlier than mine, I decided to check the newspapers in a nearby shop, since I had been out of the loop for a while.

As I passed through the crowds of people, some heads turned to follow me but before they could speak the big screen TV's dotted about departures showed the images of the Britannia landing and then flashed the headline 'Britannia returns to Earth!' and then the anchor spoke and the audio was played loudly through the airport speakers,

"The crew of the Britannia has returned to Earth unannounced, and leaked reports indicate the they have discovered and alien structure buried within Olympus Mons."

Nobody heard anything after that as the crowds of people exploded into excited chattering, those who had spotted me started to call out to get my attention but I had slipped away towards my gate so as not to draw attention.

When I boarded the plane I didn't hesitate before taking my seat and kept myself to myself and waited. When the other passengers started to board they gave me slight stares and several of the flight staff gave looked my way and chatted amongst themselves before the plane was airborne. Thankfully the flight was short, so when landed three hours later into Paris airport I left the airport quickly as the news of Britannia's return was still the hot topic, once outside I raised my wrist display and dialled the number of my personal driver to pick me up and take me home.

When he pulled up a short time later I jumped in the back very quickly to escape the stares of the other people waiting for lifts.

"Boy am I glad to see you!"

I huffed as the driver pulled away he could see I was tired so politely nodded and raised the tint in the windows, smiling I leant back further into my seat a shut my eyes for the long ride home. When failing to properly drop off I sat up and occupied my time with watching the news, I was glad to see that the incident with the young soldier had been deliberately left out of the broadcast and when the car pulled up at the gates to my summer home, I gave my driver an especially large tip and went inside.

For a week I rested in the peace and quiet, but it was never going to last one morning went check my mail, my wrist display flashed and showed that CASP had summoned me to press conference in Florida, I wasn't required to speak as CASP would provide a representative, but I was just required to be present. So, I packed a bag and flew back out to the states that night.

Once I arrived I got a taxi to take me to hotel so I could freshen up and change into more suitable attire. After an hour I was ready and it was a repetitively short way from the conference so set off. By now it was common knowledge that I was back on Earth, so many people weren't surprised to see me. They were obviously eager to know if there was any truth behind the supposed extraterrestrials and their Martian base, but a lot of the mission details were still classified, so they would have to wait a little longer before the truth was revealed.

After entering the convention centre where the conference was being held I spotted Julia waiting to the side of the bar in a very elegant formal dress. As I walked over she turned my direction and I waved. It was odd, I hadn't ever seen her out of uniform so to see her standing there in smart outfit was strange.

"Hey there sir"

She said with a smile,

"Were off duty Julia, no need for sir in fact no need for sir ever, I'm not you CO."

She shrugged,

"Well this is a big event, so I thought I should be on my best behaviour, there's going to be lots of colony leaders present, we don't want to be seen as substandard officer now do we?"

As she spoke she scrutinised my suit and smiled,

"You scrub up nice."

With a slight tilt of my head I gave her the once over,

"Not so bad yourself captain, ah it's starting we should go."

Since it was important event I thought we should enter the hall looking the part, so I extended my arm for her to loop round,

"Well aren't we the gentleman?"

She said and accepted my gesture and we walked through the cavernous entrance hall passing several heads of state. As we walked cameras flashed from the line of press standing beside the growing crowd of guest queuing to enter, with lots of shouting at us to answer questions about the mission and the aliens,

"Sorry fellas, it's still confidential I'm afraid, just wait until such time that CASP deems that information public knowledge."

I called back as we reached the end of the queue to enter the main hall

I spotted Aahlaad and his wife a little way up queue standing beside Dominick and his girlfriend, however I couldn't see Jacob anywhere so I guess he was already inside. I waited until we entered the hall and took our seats at the head table to greet them,

"Hello you two, glad to see your well."

They smiled and took their respective seats while their spouses moved off to main crowd,

"Well having free time is useful for when you need to relax."

Dom said,

"So you not disappointed about being suspended than."

Julia asked and he smiled and shook his head,

"Not in the slightest, I don't have to worry at embarrassing CASP anymore."

He said not caring who heard him,

"How have you been Jacob?"

I asked but we stopped when the senior members of CASP and my father entered, to which we stood and bowed. When my father took his place he started speaking we sat and settled down for a long night. After a long speech about the future of humanity and the Empire, my father handed over proceedings to the CASP president, he gave a brief speech that he was pleased that the first mission to Mars was a success and that he was overjoyed with the results, he then opened the floor to questions.

The questioning lasted for two hours, and boy was I glad I wasn't on the spot, the CASP speaker was run off his feet, he hadn't answered any questions involving the aliens and their base, and it wasn't until the press got fed up and ignored the speaker and started shouting their questions at me and the others. While the speaker tried to remain in control of the situation I glanced from the crowd to my father, he gave a small nod and looked forward.

As I stood and moved to the podium the shouting press quietened,

"You can sit down now Mr Speaker."

He gave me a tired smile and stepped back.

"Ok ladies and gentlemen one at a time please."

I said as I pointed towards a young reporter in the front, she puffed herself up slightly and raised her recorder,

"Thank you Captain sorry your Majesty, I'm sure I speak for most of us here if not every human, when I say, what did you find on Mars?!"

Again I looked over to my father for approval, he wasn't looking at me so I took that as approval enough,

"After we had started our scanning operations my colleague Aahlaad was scanning the area around the north side of Olympus Mons when his scanner indicated that possible artificial construction located, upon calling in the discovery into command we were ordered to investigate. After we arrived at the side of the mountain we started digging, after a while we exposed the structures entrance, which we have unofficially called The Station, after we gained access to the facility with an unorthodox method."

I glanced in Dom's direction, he laughed through his nose and took a drink,

"We explored it extensively and discovered a tram-line that lead deeper inside the mountain once we activate it we rode it down to section B of the base and discovered an alien corpse perfectly preserved inside a sealed airlock, however we opened the door and recovered the body for study."

I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to mention the Agincourt and the marines, nor the blood stains and pile of bones,

"Does that answer your question?"

I smiled at the reporter as she scribbled down the last of her notes. The next hour was taken up with filling in the gaps in my shortened version of our mission. By the time I concluded the press conference it was very late at night, so when the attendees filled out to their waiting cars, I walked over to the others,

"So you guys getting back?"

I asked quizzically,

"Yeah, we brought the kids so we shouldn't be any later."

Aahlaad's wife said, as she and her husband put their coats on.

Dom said his goodbyes as well, as he a plane back to Africa booked for the morning, but as the conference had overrun he decided to head over straight away, that just left Julia,

"Well how about you?"

Before she could answer however my father pulled me aside,

"Son you need to come with me."

I was puzzled but followed all the same,

"Is everything ok?"

He turned when we were out of earshot from the crowds,

"We've had a priority one transmission from Mars, the marines have inadvertently reactivated the computer core, The Station is active we need your head for Mars straight away, assemble your team, Dominick has been reinstated, Aahlaad and Jacob have already been informed and you will be joined by the Commonwealth's leading language and xenolinguistics expert Christopher Bishop, were sending you all the Florida, good luck son."

He gave me a quick hug before he walked over to CASP President,

"Well we'll have to put our plans on hold."

Julia said as she headed for the door.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter: 8: Revolution

"What do you think the soldier boys did to bring the computers online?"

Julia asked as we were hurried into a limousine,

"No idea, most likely they did something or went somewhere they shouldn't have, and the bases computer tried to stop them. Either way well soon figure it out."

I responded half-heartedly as I settled into the back seat, my mind was mainly focused on getting back to Mars. After a short drive to the airport Julia and I were airlifted to CASP and soon we were being briefed on the new mission statement.

Luckily we didn't have to spend a year training, so the only thing we had to get was more drugs to prevent Zero G degradation, therefore upon leaving the press conference, we spent a three-hour drive to Florida and then a father two hours getting the drugs and suiting up. Within six hours Julia, Aahlaad, Christopher, Dominick and myself, were ready to leave, unfortunately we were going to be flying in the Agincourt as it had just returned home to restock and bring a fresh platoon of Marines. Thankfully, the Shuttle wouldn't have to dock with the CSS as the Agincourt had docking clamps which meant that the Shuttle could dock. With the Shuttle ride over and the crew and I settled in, the Captain got us underway.

And the Agincourt was faster than the Britannia, our journey time was a little less than three weeks and with the others and I all except Chris had been awake for the day and night so we decided to get some sleep. As I woke I glanced at my virtual wrist display and I told me I had slept for twelve hours, and we were already three astronomical units from Earth, so the others and I busied ourselves reading up on the marines logs of their time spent in the Station, thankfully they hadn't found nothing new within it so we focused on the reports of the computers activation and subsequent system startup.

Reading the logs took us most of the flight as they were so extensive and numerous, after the sixth straight hour of reading reports on the fourteenth and a half day I decided it was time for a break, we were nearing mars but we still had time so I wanted to speak to the Captain to see if he had any information about why the alien computer activated.

"Permission to enter the bridge Captain?"

I said as I walked up behind the Captain's chair,

"Like you would ever ask for permission on your own ship."

The Captain said as he stood and turned to shake my hand. I knew the Captain from back in my early Air force days, His name was Jeff Monroe Sn or as he liked to be called 'Joker' he had spent his early years in the Air force as a Jr Fighter Pilot, but when he had shown exceptional flight skills he had been transferred to a secret division of the Air force which was where the Agincourt had been developed.

The only reason I Knew about it was because I was because the ship had been commissioned by my father and he had brought me along to watch, as it was before I ever joined the Military.

"What do you mean my ship Joker, you're the Captain and besides I'm just a guest."

He smirked,

"Good to see you know the rules still, how've you been?"

I smiled before responding,

"You know, same old, finding alien bases and their dead inhabitants."

I grinned as he turned back to the viewing screen,

"So you know why the computers turned on?"

He simply shrugged,

"It wasn't like we tried to turn it on Piper decide that in a bored feat of genius to smash open a sample case and then all the lights turned red and started flashing but other than that nothing happened, I guess failsafe should have activated but either the computers programming is faulty or there were none left after whatever killed the aliens."

After Joker and I had spoken for a while I returned to the crew compartment and woke the other,

"Rise and shine, daylights burning, landfall in 10 minutes."

I barked, of course Julia, the only one of, my crew to have been in the military snapped straight out of bed and to attention. I took her a moment to realise where she was, then she relaxed and shot me a dirty look but I could see her grin as she turned to grab for suit and she was still wearing her protective base gel layer. The other four pulled themselves out and where in their underwear so quickly wrestled to get dressed.

Not five minutes later Dominick, Chris, Aahlaad and Jacob stumbled into the main garage,

"These military ships sure are handy, no messing around suiting up in orbit and separating the ship for descent and the ride is so smooth, I can barely feel the re-entry"

Jacob exclaimed,

"Top notch technology gets poured into this baby."

Jokers voice said over the ship intercom,

"The RAF spared no expense."

He stated proudly,

"Well don't get to use to it and remember to check your suits for any loose latches I don't want to have one of you flaking out as soon as we land."

But I could see my message was already useless, Aahlaad was checking his suit, while Dominick was examining Jacobs.

Julia was leaning up against the garages main door with a slight smile on her face,

"We know the drill Greg, like you'd ever let us forget to get our suits."

She said the last part with finger quotations,

"Before we went anywhere without atmosphere."

Sighing, I looked back to the rest,

"You can never be too careful in dangerous situation after what happened to Dom I wasn't about to risk losing one of my friends to a barren planet, let along to something stupid like asphyxiation."

She nodded and grabbed a hand rail as the ship bumped a little as it touched down on the surface.

After the short walked over to the bases entrance, the marines and my crew ditched the suits and headed straight inside, but I lagged behind to have a word with Piper who was readying himself to leave,

"So I heard about your little incident in one of the labs, care to explain?"

He rolled his eyes and made a noise as though he was in pain,

"For fuck sake! Has Joker been telling everyone, listen all that happened was I was on one of my patrols of the base when I went into the lab and."

He stopped and looked away, as though embarrassed,

"What? What happened, Piper?"

At the mention of his nickname he looked back and sighed,

"I tripped on one of the piles of bones and when I reached out to stop my fall my rifle went clean through the glass."

He reddened slightly and coughed,

"The sample is intact and now you have your computers on so I did you a favour, shows what scientists now huh."

I grinned and nodded, as I turned to leave I wished him a good flight home and headed into the Station.

After a lengthy journey I reached the computer room and found my crew already busy at work, Aahlaad was assisting Dom in setting up our new Control Desk where all our virtual data would be stored and ready for analyses and decoding, it also had a large touch screen panel that allowed for us to review the data. Chris was frantically connecting the desks wires to the computer, although I could see he was frantically excited and his hands were shaking, so I went over to assist,

"Hey Chris slow down man, we have plenty of time to sort this and we are here for a year."

He was taken aback by my appearance and immediately stopped working,

"Sorry your majesty, I'm just can't wait to start analysing this data and decoding the alien language."

I frowned slightly while looking up from the floor where I had positioned myself to connect the wires,

"Chris while we're here, I'm not your majesty I'm just Greg."

He hesitated for a moment longer before returning to splicing the wires together.

After two months tireless work Chris managed to build a code gateway for the computer to send data through, for two weeks alien words and symbols scrolled down the screen before ending in a series of red flashing icons, which ended the stream of data, it was obvious from a human perspective that the red flashing icons were warring symbols, and there were seven red icons which could have possibly been linked to our interference in the base.

Chris didn't waste any time before entering his Earth Languages Linguistics program which contained all human languages, old and new, into the desk for it to start running through all the languages to try to build a translation. Hopes had been high initially that we would have a translation before too long but after a another three months had rolled by with only a hundred languages tried, with only limited results we became resigned to the fact that this would take a while.

After a month of the linguistics program running through all possibilities, we still had no concrete translations, during that time we had tried to operate some of the alien systems in the labs with some results, we had managed to work out what some of the words meant such as direction from using one of the mechanical arm controls, so we had translated the directions into human, so now Chris was using these words to try to create an alien-human alphabet and from there he could translate the words.

After five days the linguistic program had translated half an alphabet, so Chris restarted the translation of the alien data, and within an hour we had a rough translation, at the end of the list it read 'In*ruders de*ec*ded' and 'Unau*ho*ised access.'

Despite the sketchy words we had our first readable translation of a fifty thousand plus year old alien language and with the words mostly complete we could easily fill in the gaps, it had taken five months and three weeks and five days we had translated the alien language, after Chris had finalised the translation he told us that the language with the most similarities was the ancient Sumerian language, which suggested that these aliens had had contact with prehistoric humans before their deaths.

After the 'Prothean' language was translated we discovered that the Prothean's had been monitoring Humanity for thousands of years before their destruction from an enemy far more powerful than themselves, although the database was very specific towards the end of its use on the Protean enemy although the records had become corrupted the identity of the alien force had been lost.

The discovery of the Prothean enemy sent shock waves throughout the CASP Seniority and Military leaders, however there was a suspicion that the Prothean's held which was that the enemy wasn't permanently based within the Milky Way, and that after the Prothean's realised that they would be destroyed they sent all their collective data to their remote science stations in a hope that the scientists could find a way to win, it didn't work and most of the data has now been corrupted.

The main benefit from the newly translated Prothean Archives, named by the CASP science division, was the untold scientific and technological advancements that were now freely available to Humanity, for a start CASP now had a full understanding of the physiology of the Prothean's with full DNA and neural pathways data, which from first observation indicated potential for increased human lifespan and increased intelligence.

After Chris had finished the translation he started compiling it. "Chris good job now go get some sleep, god knows you need it" I said as I patted his shoulder. He turned and smiled, "Thanks Greg, but I think I'll stay a while, if it's ok with you?" Smiling I turned to leave, "Sure thing Chris but don't stay up to late we need you at your best, there's much more to be done here."

When I left the computer room I went towards our new bunk house and settled down on my bed and opened up my wrist display and watched as the newly compiled and categorised data flowed down my wrist display I was amazed at the treasure trove we had uncovered. For the remainder of tour on Mars we uncovered vast quantities of what the Protean called Element Zero which from the data informed us, it held the ability to change the mass of an object when an electric current passes through it. It was this discovery that scientists had been most excited about.

For several years since the formation of CASP they had researched wormhole technology that would grant humanity the means of traveling across a planet without using planes or ships. The scientists were also fascinated by the Prothean FTL engines, although the engines indicated that they had only a one light year and hour speed it required enormous amounts of power to operate, thankfully humanity had overcome the problem of energy several years prior to the Britannia being built.

The other benefit of having a database that included a details on the Prothean body and bodily networks, was that we could use that to expand the human lifespan from a hundred years to possibly a hundred and fifty and potentially modify the human body to self-heal and regenerate, the benefit was that we could use the data to advance our own science in regenerative medicine.

Once I had finished imagining the possibility of the potential technology, I turned off my wrist display and decided to get back to work before we had to pack up shop, since we had accomplished our mission there was no need to stay much longer. The following months subsequent to our return to Earth saw the news of what we had done released to the world, scientists all over ran at the chance to study the alien data, and with colony councils pouring funds into them, the planet soon saw new technologies spring up, such as wormhole gateways across the planet using trains as the mode of transport, effectively ending all other forms of international travel, however scientists were sceptical that wormholes could be improved much further, meaning that interplanetary travel would be impossible.

As for the crew and I, we were told to take a very long holiday, and return to our old lives afterward, so while Dom, Chris, Jacob and Aahlaad return to their homes, Julia reported to the nearest air force base to be reinstated, while I went to see my father who was back in European Britain at the palace and discuss some things I had on my mind. I was readying myself to leave America when I received a call from CASP asking if I would like to be permanently transferred to them as a full-time captain of one of the new FTL ships they were building, I told them I would love that but would have to clear it with the RAF and my father.

So after I finished the call I took a cab to Grand Central station where one of the newly refurbished wormhole platforms was located and boarded the train for Berlin, as the Imperial Transport Director had commission the Trans Earth Train Link so that all new trains would be directed through all world capitals so that anybody could reach a specific country and then take one of the old train to local stations. The travel time to Berlin was half an hour which would give gave me plenty of time to talk to my father before I had to return to mainland Britain and return to the air force to hand in my transfer papers. When I arrive at Berlin station I called my driver to come get me, after a short wait he arrived and then drove me to the Palace.

The Berlin Palace wasn't as grand as Buckingham Place but it was situated in the heart of the German countryside so it was quiet and secluded which was what was required after lots of Imperial trips and business, and was where my parents spent most of their time, I however preferred the hustle and bustle of London, and Buckingham's ground were so large you couldn't hear much of the city. Once we pulled up outside the front doors I exited saying my thanks to the driver and went inside, I had a good feeling where my father would be so I headed straight for the rear of the palace to where to swimming pool was located, and sure enough there he was lazily swimming about the pool while my mother sunbathe outside.

"Hello everyone, I'm home!"

I called theatrically, my mother shot straight up and ran inside to hug me while my father who was spooked by my sudden entrance choked on water and spent several second regain his composure, and exited the pool but before he reached me his three large German Shepard's bound in and jumped up at me knocking me over and into the pool, as I surfaced coughing and spluttering I could see my parents laughing heartily while the dogs circled the edge of the pool waiting to pounce again,

"Well they're happy to see you Greg"

My mother said once she finished laughing,

"Well I'm glad to see all of them too." I said through gritted teeth, the dogs barked excitedly as I waded out and reached for a towel.

Later on that evening after me and my parents had eaten, we were seated in the living room and I decided it was the perfect time to talk,

"Dad I was think now that we have wormholes and hopefully very shortly increased lifespans into it time we started to branch out into space, I know we only just landed on Mars but its seems like centuries ago, now we have the ability to go into other star systems, there's nothing holding us back now."

I took a breath as I had wanted to get that off my chest,

"You know Greg I was going to say the same to you, I know CASP has offered you captaincy of the Explorer and that you've return home to hand in your papers at the RAF, and I fully support that, I just worried at too much for CASP to do alone. Therefore, I am going to turn CASP into a state organisation so that the Commonwealth can be in charge of our destiny and not a private company, I was thinking of calling it the Intersolar Commonwealth effectively removing all national boundaries between humans, we will still have the commonwealth and the colonies, but as a species we would be united under the Intersolar Commonwealth."

"Well I can agree with that, the only with now is to start."

And that's what we did, my father and I took a train to London and set up an Empire wide podcast, to be broadcast live from the Houses of Parliament, when it was ready and the press had gathered, my father and I dressed in our finest Imperial Uniforms walked into the hall and bowed to the gathered Regency Council Leaders and then received their bows, after which I went to take my seat at the side of the speaker's chair, but was stopped by my father who motioned toward to speakers position,

"You have to get you practice in son, one day you'll be doing this all the time."

He winked and went to stand beside me, facing out onto the crowd, which brought a few hushed voices and lots of flashing from the cameras. Nonetheless I stood firm and began.

"My fellow citizens of the world, I address you from London to bring you a proposal, my father and me have been in council for several hours and have come to agreement, we propose that the Human race formally unite under a new nation which will be named the Intersolar Commonwealth. The ISC will be our government, military, science, finance and transport all rolled into one, the Commonwealth alliance will be replaced with this new one, however the British Empire and her colonies will remain, however this is meaningless as the ISC is what we will refer to as our species title. Now this is only a proposal as we our already a united people so it should be the people who decide. Therefore I shall open this up to the gathered colonial council rulers to decide if we should commission CASP to become a state-run space program to become the space agency of the ISC, to open space for humanity to explore and expand in. All those in against please raise your hands."

Twelve hands rose,

"Ok all those in favour?"

At this a sea of hands rose and a blinding amount of flashes erupted, it was decided, Humanity would go to the stars united as the Intersolar Commonwealth.


End file.
